


Veiled Intent

by KrinnDNZ



Series: NaPoWriMo 2014 [8]
Category: Magic: The Gathering
Genre: Blackrom, Demons, Dubious Consent, Edgeplay, F/F, Furry, Nezumi - Freeform, liliana vess continues to make questionable relationship choices, ob nixilis continues to be a huge jerkface
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-30
Updated: 2015-04-18
Packaged: 2018-02-27 16:47:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2700146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KrinnDNZ/pseuds/KrinnDNZ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Attacked, deeply wounded, and forced to flee to Kamigawa's perilous Takenuma Swamps, Liliana Vess finds herself short on magic and allied with a dangerous rat ninja. Can she and Ink-Eyes overcome their mutual distrust and fight off Ob Nixilis, the demon determined to once again become a planeswalker?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Mono-black characters are not very good at consent. I tried to pull them into being not-awful at it, but the consent practices in this story are far from ideal.

Ankle-deep in the foggy Takenuma swamps, hiding behind the bulk of fallen tree, and with only a chittering maniac of a rat ninja on her side, Liliana Vess sat on clump of moss and thought about how to repair her plans. She clenched a fist in front of her chest for focus and tried to concentrate. There were intermittent crunches and splashes in the middle distance, out of sight behind the tree-trunk: four ogre bandits, demon-gifted and searching for them. Her other hand fidgeted with the weapon lying across her lap: a heavy, brutal blade at the end of a pole, high and low leather wraps providing grips, with a chain trailing off of its hilt and leading to a smaller blade. Not a beautiful weapon, but an old weapon—a dangerous weapon—a trusted weapon. It belonged to the rat beside her.

She was filthy, spoke in jagged, chewed-upon words, and had practically dragged Liliana with her. On the bright side, her dirtiness and scanty clothing left her able to utterly disappear into the swamp: almost every time she'd walked out of arm's reach, she had as good as simply vanished. Liliana had underestimated her at first: her words sounded like she had to chew something off of them before she could speak them, but she was terse and precise with them. Her fighting was fluid, her limbs quick and unreasonably flexible, her feet and hands' attacks augmented by the palm-sized blade attached to the tip of her long bare tail: she had dispatched three ogres, a massive hound, and an oozing, insectile spirit that had, when she slew it, disintegrated into fluttering bodiless hands that fell helplessly into the muck. She was taller than the planeswalker, too, only revealed in the few moments where she'd stood straight rather than hunching: the muscles on the backs of her shoulders, revealed by wet, slicked-down fur, were quite shapely.

Liliana was having a hard time not thinking about her body, especially when slow flexes of her tail led the eye towards her magnificently toned ass and thence up her spine. She was on her side, peering through the ragged root-bundle of the felled tree at their last few pursuers, a position highly conducive to Liliana's ogling, especially since it left her armored skirt resting in a way that quite emphasized her thighs and ass.

The ogling relieved her from dwelling on vengeance for the injury done to her—for the difficulty of using magic, a frustrating, teeth-grinding, rib-aching difficulty perpetrated by the attacker who'd driven her to flee before his suspiciously-well-informed assault and to land, not yet out of danger, in Kamigawa's swamps. Liliana knew more than a few demons, and was all to familiar with their anger: this one had not been like that. He had looked like a demon, but not acted like one: his attacks had torn at her planeswalker spark, not her body, and had come far too close to tearing it from her.

Using magic, now, was like grasping a thorny vine: she was used to bloody spells and to paying a price in pain, especially since she'd acquired the Chain Veil and made liberal use of its power. She wasn't used to every single spell costing blood and pain: it was like being dragged back to her apprenticeship a century and a century ago, stumbling through every spell not quite knowing what would come of it. She hated it.

The rat interrupted her dwelling: she placed one forefinger-claw on Liliana's cheek, just above the top edge of the veil. Her red eyes were inches away, unblinking. Liliana twitched, then raised her eyebrows silently. The rat leaned in, whiskers brushing Liliana's ear, one hand on her shoulder, the other on her wrist. Grimy. Thin-fingered. Grasping roughly.

"Stay exactly here. Silent," she ordered in a whisper.

She raised her eyebrows at Liliana. Liliana nodded and got an affirming wrist-squeeze back. The ninja draped a thick sheet over her, blotchy and rocky-grey, and she shrank herself, shoulders hunching, arms pulled in, legs against her belly and chest. She stayed still for a few adjustments from the rat, who then nodded and pushed a rucksack against her. She could hear the withdrawl of something from the bag, the quiet clack of laquer parts in the rat's armor. Her backpack dug into her back, and she wished that she'd taken it off.

Footsteps: quick, squelching, and leading away. Liliana shifted a little and found a small hole to peek through. The rat was dashing away with a body on her back. Liliana frowned, then realized that it was the furthest away she'd ever gotten without fading into the swamp. Shouts arose—rough male voices from the other side of the fallen tree, followed by more footsteps. Heavier than the rat's, they thudded and carried with them the rattle of dirty lacquer armor. Liliana inhaled, dug her fingernails into her palms, and succeeded at keeping quiet when the first pursuer jumped down from the top of the tree and took off after the rat.

The second of the pursuers had to scramble to get over the tree, and landed more heavily, while the third vaulted the tree and gave chase with unnaturally long strides. All three wore lamellar armor with wide shoulder plates and thigh-long armored skirts. Ornate horned helmets with masks concealed their faces. They wielded paired long and short swords, curved and thin.

Liliana let a smile creep onto her face as the rat went to work. She barely even looked as she threw a metal chain at the first pursuer, snagging an ankle and dealing him a fall that ended with a nasty noise and a problematic-looking angle to his neck. The last pursuer came over the tree-trunk almost soundlessly, wearing leather armor instead of lamellar, tall and angular—and not running. He watched his companions for a moment, then turned around and looked up and down.

All of a sudden Liliana was tensing up from every angle, breathing shallowly, watching him. Behind him, one of the pursuers had the rat's dummy in his arms and her blade through his chest. Bare-handed, she dodged the last warrior's swords, bending improbably, landing light, probing blows on his armor between fluid evasive moves. He was alone against the rat: Liliana wrote him off.

She winced as the leather-armored ogre looked directly at her and reached for his sword. He was strong-jawed and stubble-chinned, wearing an open-faced helmet rather than a masked one, and she could see him smirk. Digging her nails into her palms, she began to whisper. Immediately blood trickled from her palms to her wrists. There was a scrape of metal as he withdrew his long sword, bent his knees, waved it slowly. The rat was still sparring some distance away.

A cruel shout, a lunge forward, the crunch of the sword penetrating waterlogged timber. Liliana threw herself to the side, scrambled to rise as she heard the wet sound of the sword withdrawing from the tree-trunk, then fell and coughed up warm bitter blood. She closed her eyes, focused, then fell limp at a rough, booted kick. An inglorious whimper escaped her. She pushed herself up with one arm, teeth grinding, eyes opening as she heard mocking, harsh words in a language she'd forgotten most of. Somehow the ugliest words had gone from her memory first: usually the cursing faded last. She looked up to a raised sword, gleaming and unbloodied, to an enemy with a snarl of victory.

A tiny smile came onto her pale lips as she felt a wound open on her upper arm, under her jacket. The magic was bloody, but it still came when called. The swamp surged up viciously from her attacker's feet, an erupting cone of peat, dark soil, and water giving him time for one angry shout before the wet black ground swallowed him up and collapsed, leaving only his sword. It tumbled down and landed point-first; it stuck in the ground for a moment, then fell across Liliana's leg, her grimy thick pants leaving a smear on the blade.

Liliana slumped onto her side and watched the rat land a kick that nudged her assailaint's ankle, provoked a stumble into water, and allowed a tackle that ended with the rat knee- and forearm-deep in water as she held down the man in armor. By the time Liliana managed to get herself back to sitting, to wipe the blood from her chin and wipe off her hands—as with the last spell she'd wrought, the blood erupted as a price, the wounds closing themselves—the rat had retrieved her weapons, frisked the pursuers for useful trinkets, and returned.

She towered over Liliana, her polearm held on one hand, the other on her hip. Splatters of human blood on her were already going brown, blending into her clothes and white-only-at-the-roots fur, adding to her camouflage. She looked back and forth crisply, the cloth mask over most of her muzzle trailing after it. A pause, then she nudged the bare sword on the ground with her long-toed paw, thin claws scratching the metal briefly. Her tail curled around the hilt and picked it up as she looked to Liliana and nodded firmly.

"Good kill. You intact?"

Liliana nodded, rising, still shaking lightly.

"Almost. Here safe enough to rest, ten minutes?"

She chewed her lip briefly as she realized she was speaking like the rat, was hoping to spend some of the minutes (she was sure she could be ready to march in less than ten, but not much less) leaning against her. Touching her. She wondered what the rat's claws felt like: she'd only felt them pressing against her jacket. They'd caught her eye later: little translucent arcs with narrow points, at the end of long, quick fingers.

The rat put her prizes down and nodded brusquely. With a brief crouch, she leaped onto the tree-trunk, landing on all fours and skittering first to the root-end, then to its branches and the place where it slumped into the sludgy water. Liliana turned, still sitting on the ground, just watching her move, watching the way she went from tall to long, dartingly looking about. Her tail-blade scratched the tree's trunk absently as she used the height to look around the quiet marsh. Liliana flinched when she jumped down, landing in a crouch an inch away. Her head turned.

"Ten minutes. Then moving." A grim, short laugh. "Here safe. Not sure _you're_ safe."

It was as close to a joke as Liliana had heard from the rat all day. She made an apologetic smile as she put her back against the tree-trunk and pulled her knees up against her chest, arms on her shins.

"Hope I'm safe with you."

She'd meant to only rest her head for a minute, to invite the rat to join her. She could still feel the pain all along her scar-lines. They'd been faint, nearly unnoticeable, until the attack. She jerked her head up again when the rat gently touched her elbow.

"Time to move on."


	2. Chapter 2

Liliana was even colder and more weary than before when they reached the nezumi village, her quilted jacket heavy on her shoulders. Her left boot was wet and icy-cold from a misstep that the rat had had to pull her back from. The village, like the rat who'd guided her there, was difficult to see. She concentrated on not falling over and on following closely. The inhabitants of the village stared at her with beady, emotionless eyes, and she vaguely wished she were more intimidating or outright a captive, rather than looking like a bumbling foreigner.

It was easy to notice, though, the way that the other rats responded to Liliana's rescuer. She stood considerably taller than the others: Liliana had noticed her muscles, her movements, but her strength and grace were heightened by contrast with the rats around her. There was, Liliana thought, a deference, too, in their body language towards her, in the tone of their chittering, squeaking questions and her answers. She handed off her prizes from the fight with a generous air, then ushered Liliana to a small door that the planeswalker had missed until it was opened.

It was a relief to be inside again: in a warm little burrow with a short tunnel separating it from the outside. It was less cramped than Liliana had feared: a few minutes inside made it clear that it was sized for her rescuer, not for the other rats. She was led into a small room full of padding, tight and nestlike.

"Dress in dry things. I dress you?" the rat asked, looking at Liliana skeptically.

Liliana shook her head, shrugged off her pack, and began to take off her jacket. She winced as she realized how sore her shoulders and back had become: her arm twitched, stuck awkwardly with a sleeve half-off. She grimaced, then made a hopeful-apologetic smile at the rat.

"Help?"

A curt nod. The rat's motions were rough and efficient as she pulled Liliana's clothes off, then coaxed a long, heavy robe on over furless, pale, scarred limbs and chest. Its outside was rough burlap, but the inside was surprisingly soft. Liliana pulled it close and fell into the nest of fabric scraps, eyes closed, one hand tightly holding the chain veil, letting tightly-woven metal loops dig into cold, sore fingers.

She found the rat sitting next to her when she opened her eyes, dressed in a similar robe, face uncovered. A thin hand laid on hers, touching warily, but remaining. The touch made Liliana swallow and bite the inside of her cheek.

"Questions," she chittered, whiskers flicking.

Liliana nodded quietly. She'd expected there would be some.

"Where are you from?" A smirk. "Not here."

"Very far away. Not going back." Liliana put her mouth to one side.

"Who came here with you?"

Liliana grimaced, rubbing her forehead with the heel of one hand. It bothered her to not know if she'd have won without the rat spiriting her away. It bothered her more that, coldly considering the matter, she probably wouldn't have. It bothered her little that the rat had saved her: at this point, it was clear that she wanted something from Liliana. It wasn't much power over her, but it was power Liliana had had over others many times before. Propping herself up on one elbow, she waved vaguely with her free hand.

"I don't know his name. He attacked me and chased me here."

"Why?"

"Why'd you save me?"

The rat's veiled muzzle shifted, a grin behind the fabric.

"You know how to fight demons. That one was injured. I need to fight demons."

Liliana put her hands on her face, the metal of her veil digging in against her cheekbones. She closed her eyes as she spoke.

"I know some about that. Some. Do _you_ know that demon?"

"No. I know some demons." A short, dangerous hiss of breath. "Made deals with them. You know deals?"

"I know those deals."

"I want no more deals."

Liliana made a short, bitter laugh. The rat tipped her head to one side and made a curious chitter. Liliana smirked.

"Being done with deals is very difficult. I am trying to have no more deals. I have been trying for… many years."

"Very difficult. More difficult alone, yes?"

Liliana drummed her fingers on her knee, raising an eyebrow briefly at the rat.

"What kind of deal do you have?"

A short bitter laugh, but from the rat.

"Only one kind. Left behind Throat-Slitter. Became Ink-Eyes. Strong. Fast. Powerful. Indebted."

She pronounced the last word carefully, scowling after it left her mouth.

"Only one kind," Liliana repeated, nodding in resignation. "Same deal everyone gets. Do you know any magic?"

"Can turn blood or corpses into allies. Sometimes. Difficult. Can survive wounds that kill other nezumi." A quiet laugh. "So far. Also other tricks. Stopped using them: difficult and expensive."

"Hmm. Very useful to you, yes?"

"Very useful." Ink-Eyes tilted her head curiously. "And your magic, your deals?"

"Very useful," Liliana said.

She pursed her lips, fell back into the bedding, and considered how much to say: the bleeding was obvious, but Ink-Eyes probably couldn't tell how much it cost her or that it actually hurt. From the way she'd taken its presence in stride, Liliana guessed that she'd certainly seen blood magic before. She'd said that she wanted help—and between the heightened price of magic, the demon hunting her, and the unfamiliarity of the clearly dangerous swamplands, Liliana was in no position to refuse. The rat did need her, but could dispose of her. On the advantageous side, Liliana did have help that the rat wanted. There was room to maneuver.

Liliana stretched, both hands over her head, back arching, a section of the robe falling away. The thin scar-lines from her pact were all over her body. She made a wry smile up at the rat.

"You've had captives before that you wanted something from, hmmm?"

A curt nod.

"Me too. I know you have the knife to my throat. I'm going to help you. I want one thing."

A skeptical grunt: Ink-Eyes raised one brow, lips pulling back a little from curving incisors.

"Kiss me."

Ink-Eyes was on top of her in a blur of movement, her pupil-less eyes a ferocious glowing-coal red, her lips fully back and baring her teeth.

"Had captives like _that_ before too," she hissed.

Liliana glanced nervously down at her fallen-open robe, at bare, dirty, off-white fur. When she glanced back up, Ink-Eyes had produced a short, curved knife and was holding it in a reverse grip, edge-out.

"What if I _do_ have knife to your throat? Still want a kiss?"

Liliana could see the chips in the blade's edge, the oval tsuba between blade and grip, matching neither, scavenged and carefully assembled into a deadly thing—like Ink-Eyes herself. Slowly, the blade came down and rested against Liliana's neck. Liliana conspicuously looked at it, then looked up into the rat's glowing red eyes.

"I want what I want. I've had a knife to my throat before, and I've held the knife before."

A chuckle. The knife moved away. Liliana found herself briefly irritated that Ink-Eyes' expressions were only barely easier to read with her muzzle uncovered than they'd been with her mask on.

"You made deals," the rat chittered. "You know deals. I like you. You know no-one helps for free. A knife is a way to get help."

Liliana slowly raised one hand and pushed her forefinger against Ink-Eyes' shoulder.

"If I had a knife, we might fight for that kiss. You'd win. But I'd fight."

A laugh—a much more earnest, happy laugh than she'd heard before from the rat. Ink-Eyes lifted her knife hand, pressed it against Liliana's hand, and twisted, shoving the hilt into her hand. She rolled away, and when she rose to a kneel, there was another patchwork-scavenged knife in her hand.

"Show me."

Liliana flexed her fingers around the rough hilt of the knife. She was still sore, but not quite as much so, and not nearly so cold. She smiled over at Ink-Eyes, then lunged, leaving the robe behind, putting her whole body behind the stab.

Ink-Eyes was absent.

Liliana picked herself up, then hissed as she felt the point of a knife slide down her back, tracing along scar lines, teasing the skin without breaking it.

"You _hold_ knife well, hold it like it belongs in my belly," she said. "You don't strike very well."

The knife paused, then tapped, point on the bottom of her spine.

"Try again."

Liliana laughed as she whirled around, shifting her grasp on the knife, making a wide, wild slash. Her arm had barely passed when Ink-Eyes popped up in front of her, eye-to-eye, whiskers close enough to nudge her face. She was smirking. Liliana noticed her pink tongue as it flitted out briefly.

"That wasn't a real try. Don't want to cut me?" she asked sarcastically, sliding one hand down Liliana's arm towards her knife hand, then grasping at the wrist harshly.

"If I do, who leads me out of here?" Liliana made a catlike smile, brilliantly insincere. "Besides, your husband will miss you."

Ink-Eyes blinked, snorted, laughed, laughed harder, and slumped off to one side. She slapped Liliana's belly roughly, still snickering, shoulders shaking.

"My husband." She chittered in amusement, then mimicked Liliana's voice. "Your husband will miss you!"

Liliana sat up and smiled, mouth to one side. The rat knelt and faced her, only half-smiling. Her voice went back to solemnity.

"No. Even if husband—no carrying corpses around. Only carry lessons."

Brushing long black hair out of her face, Liliana acknowledged her with a quiet nod. Ink-Eyes twisted her head again, round ears perking up.

"And you? No husband? No men?"

"I have _used_ men," Liliana said, scowling with just the far corners of her mouth and waving dismissively.

"Women?"

"I have… _desired_ women."

Ink-Eyes leaned in, watching her carefully, making a quiet, curious squeak.

"Still want a kiss?"

Liliana realized of a sudden that she was breathing quickly, and that it was the second time the rat had asked if she wanted a kiss. She raised one hand, still holding the knife, put it on Ink-Eyes' shoulder, and pulled herself up, holding onto the rat.

"Yes?"

Her voice was more of a squeak than she wanted it to be. Ink-Eyes' fur brushed against her front, and she exhaled slowly as she laid back down, pressed against the bedding by the rat's body. The kiss came slowly, her head cupped by one hand, the other pressing the knife against her side. She twisted her own knife a little, nudging it against Ink-Eyes' back, prompting a chuckle. Ink-Eyes leaned into the kiss with narrow muzzle and soft tongue and long teeth that nudged at Liliana's lips.

Closing her eyes, Liliana arched her back. Open-mouthed, letting the kiss slowly go on, she caressed Ink-Eyes' back, fingertips pressing against her pelt. The rat's fur was soft in the few places where it wasn't gritty from the mess that made her so easily able to disappear into the swamp. The fur on her front dragged over Liliana's skin, its dirty patches scratching lightly and leaving faint grey streaks.

She could hear Ink-Eyes' tail whipping about, disturbing the bedding: out of the corner of her eye she saw it pick up some shreds of fabric and squeeze them. Ink-Eyes pressed down, legs straddling Liliana's. Claws pricked Liliana's scalp as the rat's fingers dug in and pulled her away from the kiss by her hair. Ink-Eyes' long, pale incisors dragged along Liliana's lower lip, pinched it, and released as she chittered in satisfaction.

Liliana exhaled, breathing slowly, taking hold of a patch of fur on Ink-Eyes' back, twisting her hand so that the long fur settled between her fingers. Ink-Eyes stared at her, meeting her gaze at the same time as releasing her hair. Her cheek dimpled lightly under the rat's fingertips, pressed together, rubbing from cheekbone to jaw and back. The point of a knife came to rest against Liliana's bare skin, on her side, only a nudge, merely present.

"You are not from here," Ink-Eyes said, speaking slowly, putting the scavenged human words together, staring with intense focus into Liliana's now-open eyes, her lips pulled back a little. "You are strong. You will leave, like you arrived, by a path I am not able to walk. After I help you you stop needing me. Just another no-face nezumi, to you." She hissed quietly and bit Liliana's earlobe, briefly pinching flesh between blunt narrow teeth. "This I know like I know where it is or is not safe to put my foot. But also I know that tonight you need me, that right now, you want me, and that here and now I want to _control_ you."

Liliana squirmed under her, breathing more heavily, bending away from the knife. She bared her teeth up at the rat, face bending into a snarl as Ink-Eyes stared down at her in turn. Her fingers tightened around the grip of the knife she'd been given.

"Here and now, you control me if you _earn_ it."

Her eyes flashed as she pulled the knife down, blood welling up from the scars on her face as she channeled mana, as her arm moved in a blur. She jabbed upwards with the knife, eyes still on the rat's, body twisting as she put all her effort behind the stab. The wet, scraping sound at first told her that she'd put the knife right below the rat's ribs as she intended; the thump that jarred her arm and made it ache told her that she'd sent the knife in hilt-deep.

Ink-Eyes groaned, head falling for a moment. Liliana watched her, breath held. A tremble, the point of the rat's knife drawing blood against her side. There was a dribble of blood from her side onto Liliana's skin, and Liliana found her arm shaking as the blood spread for a moment, then ran down her side in a thin stripe.

Suddenly the rat flexed, twisting her lean body and yanking the knife, still hilt-deep in her side, out of Liliana's grasp. Her tail curled around the knife's handle, pulled it out with a slurp, and brought it up to hang by her head. The burst of movement ended with Ink-Eyes' hands on Liliana's wrists, pinning down.

"You remembered," she said, exhaling wheezily. "Very clever. Good." Her tail brought the knife forward, and she licked the bloody blade, extending her tongue lewdly and curling it around the bare metal.

Liliana flexed her fingers and pushed up once, hard. It didn't work. Ink-Eyes shook her head and smirked. Her hand pulled back suddenly, laid a lashing, claw-dragging blow across Liliana's face, and was back on her wrist. Liliana cursed for a moment, head tossed to the side, then hissed: the clawmarks were thin, but stinging, four of them cutting across her older scars. When she turned to face Ink-Eyes again, the rat's eyes were alight vividly.

"I control you," she hissed. "I earn it."

Another brief yell as Liliana found herself pulled around, the rat's hands on her wrist and grasping her hair, shoving her facedown into the bedding. Ink-Eyes quickly introduced a long strand of cloth pulled from the pile beneath them and improvised it into a cord with which to tie Liliana's roughly-pulled-back wrists. As Liliana writhed under her, turning back and forth, she caught a glimpse of the rat's chest and noticed that there was a bloody spot in her fur, but it was steadily drying, not bleeding: no wound remained.

She gasped, arching as Ink-Eyes dragged claws down her back. She kicked, feet dragging up bits of bedding, toes digging in. The claws were quite sharp, and tugged at the little valleys of her scar-lines. They waved from side to side, loose arcs of stinging points moving from her shoulders towards her ass, passing her waist, digging in briefly, then lifting away.

A moment later, Ink-Eyes was on top of her, grasping her shoulders, the rat's long, lithe body pressing down against hers, a flop of white hair tumbling down. Thin hands slid along her arms and around to her belly, fingers spread over it. The rat licked the side of her neck slowly, and she could her the soft thumps of her tail against the bedding.

"Pretty scars everywhere," Ink-Eyes crooned. "Nice to have claws find them, follow along them?"

Liliana took a deep breath and nodded, flexing her knees, pushing her ass up against the rat's belly.

"Touch them," she said quietly. "Follow along them with claws. Yes."

The claws dug into her belly, dragging roughly but without hurry along the scar-lines there. Ink-Eyes' limbs were long, permitting a straddle over Liliana, torso pressing down against her as lean fingers explored. Ink-Eyes' hands spread over her belly, then pulled her onto her side, the rat against her back with arms around her. She felt Ink-Eyes' fur on her skin as the rat settled, lithe body pressed close. She closed her eyes and exhaled as Ink-Eyes kissed the side of her neck, as claws followed scar-lines up her belly, over her ribs, and along the furrows. The scar-lines on each side of Liliana's nipples framed them with V-shaped lines that split her aureolae, and the touch of claws against them made her take a shivering breath.

Ink-Eyes scrutinized Liliana's nape, watching how the human's hair fell, long and straight and unnaturally dark, some sweat still caught in it from the trek through the swampj. She pushed herself back for room, then kissed along Liliana's spine, planting one hand and steadily moving down. Her other hand caressed Liliana's pale side and hip, fingertips lightly rubbing where grime had worked its way under the mage's clothes. Her whiskers brushed against the mage's bound arms as she kissed, moving along until she was sitting up with put both hands on Liliana's thigh.

A pause, then a hearty slap on Liliana's ass, prompting a yelp. Chuckling, she came around and knelt with her knees against Liliana's belly. Liliana found herself again having the luxury of staring at Ink-Eyes' ass, the rat's body nicely in profile for her gaze. She let her eyes half-close as Ink-Eyes leaned down, one hand grabbing her ass, kneading roughly.

"No tail," Ink-Eyes chuckled. "How do I hold you?"

The question barely slowed her down: Liliana didn't bother replying to it. Ink-Eyes twisted, keeping one hand on Liliana's ass to spread and expose her, tucking her other hand in and dragging its claws up her thigh. When the claws reached the scar-marks that ran parallel to her labia, she uncurled her fingers and rubbed slowly with their tips. Liliana let her head fall to one side, exhaling slowly as Ink-Eyes' fingers moved back and forth.

A series of slow bites moved along the curve of her ass as Ink-Eyes' fingers continued to rub, going from scarred, textured outer to smooth slick inner lips. Long fingers flexed briefly, then pressed together and slid firmly into Liliana, prompting a moan into the bedding. Ink-Eyes whipped her tail briefly, then returned to the biting, now draped fully over Liliana: blunt teeth, scraping over skin until finding a purchase, then pressing down for a proper bite.

She rose quickly, slipped one leg over Liliana, and descended again, straddling her, tail draped over her head. Slick fingers messily returned, buried in the mage, thumb resting on her mons. With her other hand, the rat pulled one cheek aside, claws digging into soft flesh, and leaned in. Long limbs shifted and flexed as she brought her head around and pushed her nose against Liliana's tailbone, then put out her blunt pink tongue and dragged it all the way along the cleft.

Eyes closed, huffing, Liliana brought her upper leg forward and leaned, exposing herself to the wet, warm touch of the rat's tongue. Her elbows bent, bound hands coming up her back, away from Ink-Eyes' muzzle. She smiled into the rags beneath her, nodding, keeping her eyes closed and savoring the warmth of the den and the bright feeling of being the center of someone's attention. It had been some time since sex with this little danger, or with this agreeably cynical a partner, or with this gratifyingly proficient a partner.

The rat's tongue teased up and down her ass, then circled around her anus, then pressed in, the rat confident of being able to take her time. Liliana found a pose where she could breathe easily and simply settled in, pushing forward lightly against the rat's fingers inside her, squeezing around them in encouragement, yowling obligingly when a thumb-claw circled around her clit.

Ink-Eyes spread her fingers over the human's rump, kneading them, digging claws in with a greedy hiss as she buried her nose between Liliana's cheeks. The warmth, scent, and sounds of the human were compelling to her attention, especially when she yowled or trembled. Pale skin took on a wet sheen as Ink-Eyes' tongue worked back and forth. Contrasting with the pale skin around it, the human's asshole was darker, spreading steadily as Ink-Eyes worked on her, exposing hints of the flesh inside. The rat's tongue wriggled obscenely deep, twisting and flexing before withdrawing to tease around the puffy outside of her anus again, moving back and forth steadily, drawn to continue by Liliana's trembles and groans.

At the same time, Ink-Eyes' fingers were also in her: at first they explored, moving slowly, but soon learned where to touch, where to press, where to linger. Extraordinarily careful with her claws, she worked two fingers into Liliana, then a third.

Her ears flicked as Liliana moaned and panted: she grew louder for some time before halting herself, face against the bedding as she made a series of straining noises. Ink-Eyes could feel her quiver, tensing, nodding with jerky impulsive motions. The rat slowed down, caught her own breath, and shook her hand briefly to relieve her sopping fingers.

When she leaned her head in again, her movements were faster, rougher. Her fingers spread Liliana, and her tongue circled the mage's asshole with an urgent pressure, lower lip dragging behind where it passed. Liliana had let her shoulders relax, adjusting to her bonds, but now tensed them, shaking, immediately back to making little effort-noises, to whining in a way that Ink-Eyes found gratifying. Ink-Eyes also permitted herself smugness at how warm the burrow had become, at how the air smelled heavily of human: heavy, earthy, faintly sweet.

Soon Liliana's groans turned to a series of yelps, back arching, thrusting herself against Ink-Eyes' fingers and clenching around them Ink-Eyes greedily twisted around so she could watch the human's face: her eyes closed tightly, her face flushed, and she shook all over as she climaxed with open mouth and high-pitched yowls. When Ink-Eyes disentangled from her, she curled up partway, still shivering.

Ink-Eyes knelt, considered her, and then patted her shoulder awkwardly. Reaching over, she released the mage's wrists, then pulled her close and held her. Wordlessly, Liliana nodded against her chest. After a moment of consideration, Ink-Eyes raised one arm, beginning to groom her hands and forearms one at a time, and when she was done turned her attention to Liliana again, making quiet chitters and teeth-clicks at her. She carefully took the mage's forearm in both her hands and began to groom it with her tongue, back and forth, supplementing the licks with careful scrapes of her teeth to take off difficult spots of dirt.

Soon, Liliana turned onto her back, gently tugging the rat, then caressing her, eyes closed, as Ink-Eyes knelt over her and continued fussing. She kissed at Liliana's fingers as she attended to them, prompting a quiet, happy sigh. Straddling the mage, she clasped both hands around her arm, slowly massaging it up and down, applying a deliberate pressure. After working on both arms, she leaned forward onto her elbows to kiss Liliana's pale breasts and nuzzle along the inhumanly precise scar-lines. Ink-Eyes laid still on top of her for a minute, belly against hers, smiling down at her. Liliana opened her eyes and smiled back.

"Nice touches?"

"Nice touches." She reached up and put her hand lightly on Ink-Eyes' muzzle. "Well-earned touches. I might even want those if we did not have the deal that we do."

Ink-Eyes tipped her head and nibbled on Liliana's fingers, front teeth gleaming.

"Might want the control?"

Liliana thought about it, mouth to one side, as she patted Ink-Eyes' cheek and accepted the biting and licking.

"When I think about other women, I think about how they didn't earn control and don't understand making deals like you do. They didn't understand power. Power is a knife. You hold it well. I don't trust women who hold it clumsily, or who do not respect its blade."

Ink-Eyes pushed herself up again and put her hands on her thighs. Liliana could feel her tail brushing back and forth, its rough surface dragging over her skin. She drummed her fingers and stared at Liliana, red eyes steadily fixed on her, her teeth clicking as she opened and closed her mouth.

"Thank you."

"Mmmm."

Liliana pulled herself back and leaned on her elbows, looking up at the rat. Ink-Eyes looked down and smirked, reaching forward and lightly claw-slapping Liliana's breasts, nodding at how they swayed in response and how Liliana bit her lip.

"Want more control, then?"

She made a gesture as though of grasping a downwards-pointing knife, her hand raised, fingers curled around the nonexistent handle. Mirroring the gesture, her tail rose in a long curve off to her side, its tip wrapped around an actual small knife. Liliana stared into her eyes again, lower lip quivering, and then nodded. With her free hand, Ink-Eyes crooked a finger, smiling widely.

"Groom me."

She turned aside, lifting one leg as she moved off of her—and Liliana reached up impulsively, caressing the rat's impressive thigh and calf—and sat, pointing firmly.

"Groom my feet." She paused, mouth open, then found a word and snapped it out. "Captive."

Liliana flinched at the word—then smiled at how deftly it had been wielded. The rat reclined, grinning. Reaching into the bedding, she picked up the twisted cord that had been around Liliana's wrists and twisted it lazily between her hands.

She raised one long foot and flexed its pale, translucent claws. Liliana looked it and bit her lip. Only a little grime was still on the pink pads. She realized, eyes flitting up and down, that the rat let little swamp-muck cling to her—that the grooming kept her, once back in her den, reasonably clean, aside from feet that tread on actual dirt. She took a deep breath and moved forward, kneeling at Ink-Eyes' feet, then put her cheek against the rat's raised paw.

Her toe-claws were thicker than those on her fingers, and there was an asymmetry to their points, some noticeably shorter, variously worn. Closing her eyes, Liliana nodded, one hand on Ink-Eyes' ankle, focusing on how her skin felt against the pads of the rat's paw. She leaned forward, nose against one paw-pad, sliding to the side as she turned her head and pushed her lips forward.

"Good."

Ink-Eyes slouched further, raising her other leg, the side of her foot caressing Liliana's side. She moved her toes slowly, turning her leg a little to lightly scratch the mage's bare skin, feeling how her pads and claws met the scar-lines, the way the clawpoints caught on them briefly feeling as though the human's body was reluctant to move away from her touch.

Turning back, she pushed her other paw forward, turning it slowly from side to side as Liliana kissed and nuzzled it. Her hands mimicked the way Ink-Eyes had treated her forearm, squeezing and rubbing the dense muscle under pale fur.

"Tongue," the rat demanded.

Liliana flushed at the order, her feet fidgeting under her ass as she leaned back briefly. Ink-Eyes chittered inquisitively at her, and she nodded. A brief pause, a steady inhalation, and she moved forward quickly, eyes closed, holding Ink-Eyes' foot with both hands and bringing it to her face. Her tongue slipped out, tip sliding up along smooth fur before meeting the central pad. Ink-Eyes could feel the tightly flexed tip of her tongue relax and shift to applying a wider, gently pressing touch.

She lapped across the central pad, let her tongue slip between two toes briefly, and turned her head away, taking a breath. When she looked back to Ink-Eyes, she smiled hopefully.

"Good?"

"Good. Do that again. With captor _controlling_ you."

The rat twisted abruptly, rising with her arms whipping out and darting in as she grabbed at Liliana. Fingers slid into her hair and grabbed, claws scraping over her scalp as Ink-Eyes took hold and pulled. She yanked Liliana's head down, the mage yelping as she was forced to all fours, face almost resting against Ink-Eyes' foot as it laid on her knee. Her mouth was wide as she panted, fingers digging into the scraps of cloth under her. Ink-Eyes leaned over, making a quiet, curious chitter. She opened her eyes again and grinned, teeth showing, eyes wide.

"I hate you. Captor." She leaned in and kissed the Nezumi's paw, open-mouthed, tongue pushing out. "You earned controlling me. I'll make you earn it again."

Ink-Eyes relaxed her fingers briefly, releasing Liliana's hair as she kissed long toes, then harshly dragged her claws down Liliana's back, making the human gasp hard, eyes half-closing, as she adding red scratchmarks to her back that cut across the scar-lines. She flourished her hand as she lifted it at the end of the scratch, clawtips plucking at Liliana's waistline, then brought her hand back down for a harsh slap across her ass.

"I earn it. Captive. Mine. Controlled."

Liliana was whimpering and nuzzling at her paw as she let her hand rest, then caressed up Liliana's bare, curved back. Ink-Eyes' hand rested on the human's head as she lapped away, each toe receiving attention, peppered with light kisses along her foot and ankle. She flexed her foot back and forth slowly, carefully rubbing it against Liliana's face, and gradually shifted as Liliana's arms began to fold under her, ending up sitting cross-legged and caressing the human's head as she kissed her foot slowly, eyes closed, whimpering. A possessive squeeze on her ass.

"Captive."

"Controlled," Liliana groaned.

In time there was a pause for Ink-Eyes to shift around and present her other foot, and Liliana found herself shivering and watching it, pausing just long enough that Ink-Eyes again took her by the hair and coerced her head forward.

Ink-Eyes coaxed her down further, then shifted, climbing on top of her, pulling her hands back, pressing her wrists against the small of her back. She put her weight on top of the human and bit the side of her neck lightly, then kissed it.

"This control is good. Maybe you come back some time for more."

Liliana tugged lightly with her arms and found her wrists held firmly by a long-fingered hand. She nodded, smiling.

"Perhaps I'll come back and hate you again and you'll earn it again."

**Author's Note:**

> Work in progress. Some parts of this story are definitely sketchy.


End file.
